Athletics Rás na hÉireann: Whatever about her future on the world stage, Catherina McKiernan has definitely returned to the top of Irish distance running. Yesterday she won the Rás na hÉireann cross country with the same confidence and control that last weekend saw her claim the national title, leaving her perfectly poised for the World Cross Country championships in three weeks.
Just like a week ago, McKiernan held back from the determined front running of Rosemary Ryan, who seemed resolved to the fact that the only way to beat McKiernan was to beat her early on. The open space of Dundalk racecourse didn't make for the best spectator viewing, yet it was clear McKiernan was again running at her own pace, and just after the midway point she made her move.
Ryan was promptly dropped, and McKiernan strode out untested to the finish to win by 17 seconds. A similar distance back in third was England's Catherine Berry, while Pauline Curley rounded off a good afternoon for the Irish by taking fourth.
"I was happy enough to let Rosemary move ahead again," said McKiernan, who covered the 6km course in 20 minutes, 13 seconds. "I was never that worried about letting her get too far ahead. But I didn't want to blow up either, and so that's not really the time to start running hard."
Once McKiernan did make her move, the field was gradually strung out. And there was some other overseas quality being tested, with the American champion Priscilla Hein back in fifth position, ahead of her promising team-mate Kim Thalmann.
Next stop then is the World Cross Country in Brussels on March 20th and 21st, where McKiernan will start for the first time since 1997, and nine years after winning the last of her four consecutive silver medals in 1995. At the age of 34 her ambitions have now changed somewhat, but she is hungry to pit herself against the very best once more, and find out exactly what is left in the tank.
"Yeah, we'll we have to see," she added. "The Worlds is definitely a different ball game, and you have to go a lot harder in that. I mean, you just have to get up there or else you are gone."
What is certain is that the World Cross Country will act as a sort of launch pad to her assault on Olympic qualification, most likely over 10,000 metres, which she says remains her true focus of the year.
For Ryan, the runner-up position was still an equally satisfying springboard to Brussels and the shot at Olympic qualification: "Well, I just don't like waiting around at the start. I was expecting alright that Catherina would make a move around the midway point. And I did try to go with her a couple of times, but once she went ahead I was struggling to keep up."
Yesterday's men's race was mysteriously devoid of any real Irish interest, something the event organisers will clearly have to address. Still, England's Robert Whalley proved a worthy winner, clocking 17:36 for the same 6km course, and leaving Kenya's Isaac Kimuge a long way back in second place (17:50).
First Irishman home was Paul Fleming of Rathfarnham AC, better known as a track specialist, who ran 19:34 for 20th position.
Further afield, in Lievin, France, James Nolan concluded his countdown to this weekend's World Indoor Championships with a shaky display over 1,500 metres. In a tight finish Nolan could manage only ninth, clocking 3:45.05 behind Spain's Alvaro Fernandez (3:41.52) - which was hardly an ideal note on which to depart for Budapest.
Finally, in a move that is as baffling as it was unexpected, Romania's Gabriela Szabo has announced that her entire season is over - including her Olympic campaign - as a result of an apparent case of burn-out. Szabo ran once indoors, in Birmingham earlier this month, and dropped out, and that was enough to persuade the Olympic 5,000 metres champion to forget about Athens.
The news will be welcomed by Sonia O'Sullivan, who lost out to Szabo in the home-stretch duel in Sydney four years ago and still holds ambitions of making that 5,000-metre title her own.
RÁS NA hÉIREANN (at Dundalk racecourse): Senior men: R Whalley (Eng) 17:36, 2 I Kimuge (Ken) 17:50, 3 M Bartoszak (Pol) 17:52, 4 C Kiplagat (Ken) 17:56, 5 S Haughian (Eng) 18:01, 6 D Safronov (Rus) 18:04, 7 C Hesch (US) 18:17, 8 D Kallabis (Ger) 18:18.
Senior women: 1 C McKiernan (Ire) 20:13, 2 R Ryan (Ire) 20:30, 3 C Berry (Eng) 20:46, 4 P Curley (Ire) 21:10, 5 P Hein (US) 21:34, 6 K Thalmann (US) 21:40.
